A day with friends

A blogging friend and his wife are visiting Prince Edward Island this spring and my husband and I met with them this week at Cavendish. Of course we had a picnic and Cavendish Grove was our meet and lunch location. David and Miriam brought good weather with them from Ontario and without any wind, it was a perfect day for birding.

David has been an avid birder since childhood and Miriam is a skilled birder who takes excellent photos. It was especially nice to spend time in nature with such birding enthusiasts.

The only way the Grove could have been better is if there had been goslings. The Canada Geese were swimming or flying around 

and arguing with each other in usual Geese fashion. 

Ducks such as Mallards, Gadwalls 

and Green-winged Teals dropped in while we watched. The Muskrat swam around the bulrushes and dived for tender shoots.

The National Park is a prime location for Bald Eagles on the island and we often see them when we visit the park. That day was no different and in honour of our visitors, the birds were in fine form. We saw one perched on a stump near the dunes 

and two adults and an immature eagle floated overhead on the breeze.

Elsewhere in the park, as per usual, an Osprey flew by.

We saw Golden-crowned Kinglets in a tree, tiny birds which I had never seen before. I didn’t manage a good photo, just a blur of flapping wings as one flew away.

It was a wonderful day with people who enjoy nature as much or more than we do. 

P.S.

I am leaving comments on blogs as I have always done and many aren’t posting. What is up with Blogger these days? Is there a fix for this?

Duck duck goose

One reason I love Cavendish Grove is the bird life in the basin every spring. Two couples of Canada geese are nesting there this year and two pairs of ducks as well.

Two Northern shovelers rested among last year’s bulrushes. The male is brightly coloured with a long scoop-like beak. 

The female has a similar shaped orange coloured beak and brown plumage which looks like it was hand painted around the perimeter of the feathers.

A pair of Gadwalls also shared the pond. They were more shy than the shovelers and were harder to photograph. The female’s feathers are similar to the female shoveler. 

The male is more distinctive with fine patterns and blocks of colour such as grey and black.

On an island in the pond, a goose sat on her nest. 

We guessed the bird nearby was the gander. He stood sentinel duty, barely moving a muscle. 

Later, after our walk through the Dunelands down by the beach, we walked past the gander and he hissed at my husband and me.

It was our first encounter with a hissing gander and we hadn’t approached or threatened him.

Two other geese were nearby in the high grass. They didn’t bother with us.

We plan to go back to see the little avian community in the Grove soon, hoping to see ducklings or goslings.